Oklahoma Sooners could do one of the best things possible to help college football and it involves their biggest rival
The Oklahoma Sooners are one of the few teams that have decided to get rid of their spring football game during the offseason. And, it makes all the sense in the world when you think about this new world of college football with NIL and the portal.
Nebraska was the first one to really cancel its spring game after head coach Matt Rhule said it wasn’t worth it. He mentioned that other teams see the film on his players from the spring game, and then the spring transfer portal opens, and other teams poach those players and offer them more money. And, I imagine that’s how a lot of coaches feel.
The Sooners did the same thing, but now there is an idea being floated out there, one that could help them a ton, and it’s being thought of by maybe their biggest rival. What if, they took an old rivalry that they don’t play anymore, and they played that team in an exhibition game during the spring to raise money for NIL?
“[We should] play a home and home in the spring against them,” Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy said. “Charge $25 a head. They can use it for NIL. We’ll use it for NIL. If they don’t want to do two in one spring, we can do one here this year, one there next year, and split the gate.”
And, while a lot of Sooners fans have strong feelings about Gundy, mostly bad feelings, you have to admit — it’s an intriguing idea. It helps keep a rivalry still alive that is as old as time, connecting the two in-state fan bases in a way they no longer have due to the Sooners moving to the SEC and the Pokes staying in the Big 12.
Now, whether this gets done or not is a different story, but it’s certainly something both schools should think about.
